With violent crime at a 20-year low in the city and workforce development initiatives underway to support a growing county industrial base, leaders of both local governments said Thursday the state of Greenwood is strong.

County Council Chairman Steve Brown said a $1.12 million investment to bring sewer lines, signage and an access road to the North Greenwood Industrial park — which is also slated to get $8.4 million from the capital projects sales tax — shows the commitment being made to prepare the region for new and expanded business opportunities.

“Our economic alliance staff needs this additional product to be able to respond to the many inquiries that are coming into their office. Remember that a portion of the local option sales tax initiative will be used to construct a spec building on this site,” he said.

Brown and City Manager Charlie Barrineau joined County Manager Toby Chappell at Piedmont Technical College for the annual State of the City/County luncheon sponsored by the Greenwood SC Chamber of Commerce.

Brown used labor statistics to support his point. With a 4 percent county unemployment rate and 642 open jobs, Greenwood County is home to 24,170 people who both live and work locally. Another 31,210 residents commute into the county, while 28,988 leave to work in surrounding areas.

“These are important facts that tell us, ‘We must continue to sustain, to support and to foster a diversified economy that benefits all,’” Brown said. “We must prepare our citizens for good jobs coming to Greenwood and better connect them to these opportunities.

“A skilled workforce is a priority.”

Barrineau opened his remarks with the downturn in violent crime, which also carries a streak of more than four years without an allegation of excessive force against any police officer.

“Let that sink in. This does not happen in every community. I commend the hard work of our 58 men and women and Chief Gerald Brooks,” Barrineau said. “We are not perfect, but it speaks to the work of those men and women.”

All city officers are also outfitted with body cameras and synchronous dashboard technology — more than a $400,000 investment paid for in part through a 2016 state grant that brought $225,213 to the city for the equipment.

“Just having that data not only protects the citizen, but also protects our officers. Body cameras are not perfect, but they are another tool that we are proud to have implemented this year,” he said.

The city and county also share an important characteristic: Neither has any bond indebtedness, after Greenwood officials in May made a final payment of $87,767 on the Uptown Market.

Officials in 2014 made a choice to use a revenue bond as a funding source for the market even though the city had enough cash on hand to do so without having to pay interest using its local hospitality account.

By bonding, it enabled city leaders to move forward with other enhancements including acquisition of $1 million in federal Community Development Block Grants used for streetscapes along Oak and Main streets and Riley Road/Magnolia Avenue.

“We cannot stop working to rebuild our core and our core community,” Barrineau said.

Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Nov 3, 2017

By ADAM BENSON abenson@indexjournal.com

Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/city-county-boast-of-unified-front-at-annual-meeting/article_7ccf6759-dc85-5653-9976-c90eec7d4d67.html

Before a region can host new economic development, it has to be prepared to bring investments in, through a trained workforce and the availability of ready-made sites.

And Greenwood County’s work on these behind-the-scenes priorities has positioned it as a state and national leader.

On Wednesday, Duke Energy announced that Greenwood County’s north industrial park is one of three South Carolina properties selected for the company’s Site Readiness Program, which qualifies them for a $10,000 matching grant from the utility to help attract projects.

That follows a September designation by Site Selection Magazine that named Greenwood as the country’s second-leading county for attainment of the National Career Readiness Certificate.

“We are laser-focused on the development of a ready workforce, as well as increased product offerings,” Greenwood Partnership Alliance CEO Heather Simmons Jones said. “Companies need sites and buildings that match or have the flexibility to quickly match their needs, and what good is a facility if you can’t fill it with qualified workers?”

With initiatives such as The Greenwood Promise and the pending construction of an advanced manufacturing training center on the campus of Piedmont Technical College, Greenwood’s development of career readiness programs helped vault its reputation. Oconee County was ranked 6th by Site Selection Magazine for workforce certificates.

The ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate is an assessment-based credential earned through scores on three ACT WorkKeys assessments – applied math, graphic literacy, and workplace documents – that measure foundational employability skills. In the 2014-15 school year, South Carolina introduced a statewide initiative to require all 11th-grade students to complete the WorkKeys assessment.

“Greenwood and Oconee counties are showcasing the Upstate’s talent pool and the payoff of collaborative efforts to connect today’s students to tomorrow’s career opportunities, in both urban and rural communities,” said John Lummus, president and CEO of the Upstate SC Alliance, said in a statement. “I’m proud that not one, but two, Upstate communities stand out among the nation.”

In August, County Council voted to spend $1.1 million for construction and engineering of an access road, sewer lines and signage leading to the North Greenwood Industrial Park on 31.7 acres between Hodges and Ware Shoals.

The funds are coming from three places: $600,000 from a state Department of Commerce grant, $125,000 from Duke Energy’s site readiness program and $395,000 from the county.

Councilman Theo Lane, who is also Duke Energy’s district manager for government and community relations, has been a proponent of the business park. He said in August that early action on site preparation and land clearing sends a strong message to potential investors.

“I fully believe the north industrial corridor is the best development opportunity out there for Greenwood County. In the south end, because of road access and getting product to customers, we’re probably not going to be able to put any significant industry there,” he said. “When they (potential businesses) see it graded and grubbed and all the work going in with a marquee out front, that says, ‘this isn’t a pipe dream, it’s something that’s really going to happen.’”

From June 2014 to June 2016, at least 20 projects were lost for Greenwood because of lack available buildings and 19 requests for information were never submitted because of a dearth of building space.

On May 1, county residents began paying an additional 1 percent in local sales tax to finance $85 million in capital improvement projects after voters approved the levy in a November referendum.

The North Greenwood Industrial Park is slated to receive $8.4 million of that for development of a 31.7-acre parcel offering businesses ready-made pads. Plans also call for the construction of a spec building that can be presented to potential investors.

Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Oct 28, 2017

By ADAM BENSON abenson@indexjournal.com

Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/greenwood-county-one-of-nations-best-for-workforce-development/article_8b259db1-0f77-5cb6-bc58-aa8952b2ea87.html

As Greenwood County geared up to put a capital project sales tax in place in November after the levy was approved in referendum by a wide margin, officials in Abbeville County were trying to figure out why their tax was defeated.

Almost a year later, a six-person commission met Thursday to start the process of getting another capital project sales tax on the ballot in Abbeville County in 2018 and is eyeing taking an approach similar to the one taken in Greenwood County.

Greenwood City Manager Charlie Barrineau, who helped organize Greenwood County’s successful bid, said the approach taken by the county and commission responsible for the list of projects played a part in the tax’s success.

“We just felt like, if we’re going to go through this, we’re not just going through it to go through it,” Barrineau said. “The goal was to get it passed. So if it’s got to pass, the more people we got involved on the front end, the greater likelihood it would pass.”

The defeated 1-percent additional sales tax in Abbeville County would have raised $9.6 million for the county over eight years to fund 21 projects — such as a new civic center in Abbeville and water lines in the Starr-Iva area — and in November when it was voted down by a 7-point margin, then County Director David Porter said a similar tax would likely appear on the ballot later.

The Greenwood County tax — which is expected to raise $85 million in eight years to fund 27 projects — was approved by a referendum with 65 percent of the vote.

At the meeting Thursday, David Garner, who replaced Porter as county director in July, put forward a commission structure and marketing strategy similar to the one used for Greenwood County’s successful tax.

Just as was done in Greenwood County, Garner recommended the commission in Abbeville delegate vetting projects falling under its five focus areas — public safety, infrastructure, education and quality of life, economic development, and parks and recreation — to five respective subcommittees.

Greenwood County Manager Toby Chappell said when he and Barrineau were considering a structure for the commission, the subcommittee organization seemed preferable because it brought a larger number of interested parties into the process.

“It allowed us to get more people involved in the process and it allowed us to bring more people who had knowledge of that subject to the table,” Chappell said. “We were able to put a lot of people that had some interest in that area at the table. So it wasn’t all staff trying to make decisions for an organization.”

Garner also recommended the commission consider coordinating with an independent organization, such as the Abbeville Area Chamber of Commerce, to promote the tax.

In Greenwood County, the Greenwood Area Chamber of Commerce did public outreach for the tax through an ad campaign which included a social media presence, public meetings and billboards.

Chappell said the chamber’s outreach was invaluable to the tax’s success.

“It’s almost like different chapters of the same book,” Chappell said. “The first chapter is the project application part, then you have the subcommittee part and then the commission part. And when all their work is done, then the chamber takes over and starts marketing it.”

During Abbeville County’s first attempt to get the tax passed, some opposed it because they believed many of the projects only benefited certain municipalities and should not be paid for through county tax dollars. Harry Stille, the former mayor of Due West and a former state representative, spoke out against the tax in 2016 because he believed each municipality should be responsible for its own projects. He said as the process to form a new list begins, his concerns remain the same.

“If Due West or Abbeville or Calhoun Falls wants something, then they ought to fund it themselves within the domain of their taxable revenue,” he said. “It crosses barriers and, to me, that’s not fair to the taxpayers.”

At the meeting Thursday, Garner said there would have to be a focus on ensuring each project would be a benefit to the county as a whole rather than to an individual area.

Barrineau said when selecting members of the commission and subcommittees, representing every area in the county was an important consideration.

“We literally mapped out where everyone lived in Greenwood County and diligently looked to involve people from every part, from Troy all the way up to Hodges and Ware Shoals and Ninety Six.”

Chappell said the most important thing in Greenwood County was getting everyone involved on the same page.

“The big words that whoever does this model has got to agree to are organization and cooperation,” he said. “You’ve got to cooperate and you can’t get into the mindset of, for example, ‘I’m Ware Shoals and all I care about is what’s good for Ware Shoals,’ because it’s going to fail. It is. You’ve got to get everybody together and to move together.

Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Oct 19, 2017

By CONOR HUGHES chughes@indexjournal.com

Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/greenwood-countys-penny-tax-success-to-inspire-next-abbeville-county-try/article_e2cb0980-6a4f-58fc-8c94-2dc64de7d046.html

He was a statesman, a doer of the people’s work, and above all he was a husband, a father and a friend.

Billy O’Dell’s legislative legacy echoes throughout Greenwood and the Lakelands, and his memory was invoked constantly at Thursday evening’s legislative barbecue, hosted by the Piedmont Technical College Foundation at Bermuda’s in Stoney Point.

The Laklelands legislative delegation was there, along with local government officials, educators, business leaders and key figures throughout the community.

The big news of the night, as PTC President Ray Brooks announced, was that they had decided to name the college’s upcoming new building after O’Dell — the William O’Dell Upstate Center for Manufacturing Excellence.

Brooks shared a story about how the decision to honor O’Dell came to a speed bump with a simple question.

“Theo Lane said ‘Well, what does Gayle have to say about it,’” Brooks said to the crowd at Stoney Point.

Brooks hadn’t asked amid the plans, but when they went to seek the permission of O’Dell’s wife of more than five decades, she was touched by the gesture.

“This is quite an honor for him,” Gayle said. “I told my children, he would appreciate the honor, but he never did try to go out and get anything for himself.”

That was the refrain of the evening, with one legislator after another explaining the selfless service O’Dell showed during his tenure in the state Senate.

Sen. Ronnie Cromer said he’d shared an office suite with O’Dell, and they came to call each other by nicknames such as “roomie.” He saw O’Dell work tirelessly to support PTC and Lander University, along with his alma mater, The Citadel.

“One of the first things that I found out about Billy was he was devoted to The Citadel,” Cromer said. “But now, Billy never really looked for any sort of personal credit.”

State Sen. Mike Gambrell echoed this characterization of humility, and said O’Dell was a true southern gentleman. He could get upset, but never showed anger, he said.

And he was experienced — a seasoned politician who knew his way around Columbia offices. State Sen. Floyd Nicholson said he was grateful to move into O’Dell’s office suite when he was elected in 2008.

“The only thing they told me when I got down there was where the bathroom was,” he said.

He said it was good not only to have someone who knew his way around, but someone to look up to.

“If we want to follow in his footsteps, remember: We are public servants, and we are doing things for our constituents,” he said.

Instead of rallying around O’Dell’s many accolades, many chose to remember him with stories. Legislators shared fond moments talking politics, while O’Dell took a break from legislative debates to smoke a cigar, or go on disastrous dove-shooting trips that ended with a laugh.

State Rep. Mike Pitts explained that he was wearing a polo to an event where many wore suits and ties.

“Billy said even if we held this event in January, it would be the hottest damn day of the year,” he said.

In his absence, many state politicians lost the metric they used to measure statesmanship by, said state Rep. Anne Parks.

“What are we going to do without Billy O’Dell,” she said. “In the House, we used to have a saying … ‘Thank God for the Senate.’ But I had my own saying, ‘Thank God for Billy O’Dell.’”

Building of the center is made possible through $6.1 million of Capital Project Sales Tax money, and construction on the 45,000-square-foot building will start in 2018, Brooks said. For Greenwood County Council, Chairman Steve Brown said it was an honor to help pass the tax that made the building possible.

He commended naming the building in O’Dell’s honor, and called him a helper and a friend.

“We are not here tonight because someone has passed from us,” he said, “but for someone who lived.”

When the building is complete, many manufacturing classes will move to the new facility, which will house new classrooms and lab spaces, along with training space to support workforce development.

Originally Published by Index-Journal on: Oct 6, 2017

 By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com

Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/odells-legacy-memorialized-in-new-ptc-building-name/article_402f3424-1ef2-534b-9a7f-41a2a105d186.html